hey guys in need some help my ef wont start its an 89 hatch. was driving and i tuned it off to park, when i got back in and went to start it all the starter did was click, it starts if i clutch start it but thats it. took it home and poked around, bridging the outer contact points on the starter wont help, if i crank it from the inside with they key the battery light comes on and stays on but now the starter wont even make a sound, i have the fan hardwired so all i hear when i crank it is the fan die down and stop until i let go of the key, im stumped ive searched other fourums but no luck. the thermostat drounds are ok, starter was tested at autozone and it passed, tried brand new starter relay and nothing, changed ignitions and still nothing. no fuses look blown and i even trid changing the main relay just to make sure. also has a stretch of brittle alternator wire that leads to the under dash fuse box but i repaired it and nothing, any ideas thnx in advance

 

A couple of easy checks as you didn't mention testing these.Clutch start it and let it idle, remove negative battery cable. If it dies your alternator isn't charging, if it doesn't could be battery or starter.


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ill try those, as far as the battery i even tried cranking it while getting a jump and no dice. all i hear is relays clicking. idk if it might be of any use but the distributor is less than 3 yrs old,was bought brand new. btw this is a b20 ef.

 

Have you done the ignition switch tests in the FSM ???

 

fsm?

 

also this car has the connector for the clutch safety switch, wasnt connected, wasnt a problem before but still, for the benefit of the doubt installed it and pressed it and no luck, battery light still stays on and no response from the starter still.

 

Bump

 

Factory service manual .

 

Charge the battery for several hours. While trying to crank have a friend bang on the starter solenoid with a wrench. Sounds like your altenator is not charging your battery, hence the battery light and the click from the starter. Battery light is still on and your not getting a click anymore from starter because your battery is low enough to not even engauge the starter coil. Charge that ****

 

And check all connections from battery to starter, and all alternator connections. clean your battery ground and any other grounds you can find in the engine bay.

 

thnx will do when i get off of work and ill report back, battery terminals were cleaned and so were the thermostat housing ones, will check the vc one and transmission one and the section that leads to the chassis, is there any other grounds i might be forgetting? starter has one no?

 

Also did notice when i was driving that the temp gauge would go up when i press the gas and when i let off it would go down, maybe a ground issue?

 

Ttt

 

that sounds like a ground issue with that, but doesnt make a lot of sense, in my opinion.....
and also, check to make sure the battery has water inside it. they say to use distilled, but i use tap water all the time and i have no issue.

the start grounds itself out onto the block, so there is no ground wire for the starter. and if it werent grounding when you went to turn the key or jump it it would click once. that was my issue for a while since i didnt connect my chassis ground

 

Well i ran a ground from the starter to the battery and it engaged but seemed to not make the full turn and the wire started smoking up, im stumped

 

TTT

 

Problem solved guys, i feel like a retard!!!! After changing all this **** then changing it back, testing of starter and pulling apart to look at contact,points. All it took was a wire brush and a gut feeling to take off the whole ground wire that runs from the negative battery terminal, to the chassis then to the transmission, upon inspecting it. Turns out it was a rust film that was causing it, so just some elbow grease and a wire brush and viola!!!! Problem solved. Although i did flood the engine whilr trying to crank it, got that fixed and now shes up and running. Just decided to touch back down with u guys and let u know incase this helps anyone out in the future.

 

sometimes we jump to electrical first ..we think too much sometimes it happends to me at times im glad you got her running thoe